Video Games for STEM Learning: How Does it Work?

The article I found most compelling this week has discussed how video games can be used for STEM learning. In the introduction, the author Jade Yang mentions how "a range of health education games have been created to help patients to recover as well as to aid the doctors to perform surgeries," I found this interesting because when I think of video games for STEM learning the thought of medical practice never crossed my mind. Video games are beneficial enough to be used as training for medical practices! Yang also mentions how beneficial video games can be, particularly with technology students; the example she gave was students at Cornell and UC Berkeley Universities. These two universities use robotic tournaments to increase students' enthusiasm for their programming courses, such as introducing programming for engineers CS1112. The last interesting point from my research this week is that video games are already created to help players gain emotional intelligence. The game consists of a village; the characters in this village are cats and dogs who do not get along (very typical). The challenge ultimately is to bring the characters together through listening to each other and managing their emotions. The creators of this game hope to gain from the player that the player will be taught sympathy. 

Reference (and image below): Yang, J. Video Games for STEM Learning: How Does It Work? Purdue University Calumet. n.d. 

Merging and Research Errors

This week I thought we would be able to make more progress on the batmon game but we ran into an error that is trying to get solved. We are having trouble merging my work with the rest of the team's work. Since that is going on, I dedicated this week to find articles that focus more on games and STEM learning; I found two that caught my attention enough to write my blog post about. The article was about a study done on students and teachers by survey after being questioned about their technology habits. The study found that learning a technology skill was motivating enough for students to learn the material. Providing a familiar and fun learning environment since this day in age most children are familiar with technology received positive responses from the students. The teachers claimed that this was a good way to engage students; they were more involved, enthusiastic, and self-pacing after incorporating technology into their studies. 

Retrieved image from: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/four-diverse-kids-wear-facemasks-sit-1805639617?id=1805639617&irclickid=2axR6VxbexyIUh4UCrRRW3yQUkBVVoQd3WT1VA0&irgwc=1&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Curly%20Eskimo&utm_source=13749&utm_term=photo-search-top&c3ch=Affiliate&c3nid=IR-13749

Blank Scene Testing and Research Articles

This week I found more research articles on how video games benefit cognitive skills, but my focus shifted more towards the game this week. Josh created three empty scenes for us to test and put together to see if we break them when we put them together. We ran into a problem recently and are trying to find a way around that before we risk breaking anything again. As soon as we find a solution, we can progress. My assignment was to add simple text and a color background to a scene. As far as the research articles I have been reading they say similar facts centering around action video games having the most benefits. The most common skills I have been seeing are visual attention and processing speed. I am excited to get our scenes working and find more stuff on the brain. 

The brain-boosting power of video games

 This week I have been focusing on finding research on how video games can improve cognitive skills and function. I found a handful of articles that met my research needs. Still, this particular one stood out, The brain-boosting power of video games by Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green, published in Scientific American. Overall, the article supports the claim that video games improve cognitive skills, specifically action video games. The points that I found very interesting were that individuals who play action video games have a greater ability to focus on visual details, sensitivity to visual contrast and can "mentally rotate objects more accurately," the example to explain this is that if an action video game player was given the task to fit an oddly shaped couch into an overpacked moving van, they could do it easily. Lastly, a study revealed that laparoscopic surgeons who were also action video gamers were able to finish surgeries quickly and efficiently, all while maintaining the necessary precision needed in an operating room. I loved reading this article. I hope I find similar ones with the STEM topic as well.

 Image from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26047025  

Getting familiar with the beginning of this semester.

I would get sick the first week of school. I am feeling a thousand times better and was able to attend my in-person classes. I do not have anything to report as far as my research project goes this week as I am getting settled and familiar with how this semester is going to go. I am trying to schedule how I will manage my time with classes and the research project since I will be taking 5 classes. I plan to do the same project I started last semester, the batmon game project. I will focus my research this semester on how games can improve your cognitive abilities and how we can bring the importance of bats to the public. 

Image from: https://www.edubloxtutor.com/what-are-cognitive-skills/